Wally, as he lay in bed beside Dick, couldn’t stop thinking.
Both of the boys had been unwilling to let the other sleep on the couch, so they had improvised by sharing the full-size bed in Dick’s small bedroom. Neither could sleep, but they chose to stay in silence for the time being.
Wally couldn’t stop the thoughts circling his brain.
Was he not good enough?
Yes, he knew he had been trapped for years, and that Artemis had probably not been able to wait for him, but… it still hurt.
Wally turned his back to Dick instead of when he had been laying out on his back across his half of the bed. Dick also rolled onto his side, but he faced Wally. Dick reached out a tentative hand, gently touching Wally’s bare and freckled arm to try and get his attention.
“Hey…”
Dick’s voice was low and raspy from his attempt at sleep, and he pulled Wally slightly to turn the other boy so they could look at each other. Dick’s cerulean eyes bore into Wally’s peridot-colored ones. Unspoken words passed between them as if they had a special connection. Which, in all fairness, they did, all before Wally had “died”. Nothing has seemed to change minus the time spent apart. A small smile crept across Wally’s face as a thought sparked.
“So…” he started, fully turning onto his side to face Dick. His little smile turned into a lopsided grin, and he reached out to run a hand through Dick’s raven locks in a joking manner as he spoke. “Barry’s told me there’s rumors about you and Zatanna-”
“No!” Dick squeaked, flushing slightly as he realized that with how quickly he had cut Wally off it might seem like he was just denying his feelings. He swallowed, sitting up slightly as he shook his head. “No, it’s not like that. We’re just…”
Both Dick and Wally paused. When Dick had sat up, Wally's hand had slipped from Dick’s hair and down to his bare chest, and neither boy had noticed up till now. Wally quickly pulled his hand back, smiling sheepishly.
“Oops.” Dick only chuckled, rolling his eyes at the speedster's antics. “As I was saying,” he sighed, shaking his head again which thus shook out his thick, dark hair, “we’re just friends. We’re close, sure, but it’s nothing more than that.”
Wally gave Dick a true smile, and this time he didn’t have his hand pressed against Dick’s chest. “I believe you, Rob.” Dick laughed, and it was barely a few seconds later that he pulled his little redhead close, snuggling up to him like a teddy bear.
“Of course, you’d believe me. I’d never lie to you unless it was for your own good.” The redhead huffed, grumbling and pretending to be annoyed, but he really just melted into the cuddles and enjoyed the warmth of his best friend.
Dick snorted upon seeing this, burying his face into Wally’s fluffy hair, but he sighed and squeezed Wally close. “I’m so sorry…”
“Sorry about what?” Wally could feel his heart sinking slightly at Dick’s apology. Whatever it was, Wally doubted it was Dick’s fault. Dick was perfect to him. The speedster clung to Dick, his chin resting on Dick’s chest as he tried to look at the younger boy. “What’s wrong?”
“I should’ve made you stop running. Barry and Bart would’ve had enough speed to stop it themselves. I should’ve done something.” Dick buried his face further into Wally’s hair, his body trembling softly as Wally could hear the slight cries coming from Dick. Wally pressed his face into Dick, the boys enveloping each other in a bout of platonic cuddles.
“Don’t blame yourself…” Wally mumbled into the taller boy’s chest, clinging almost for dear life to the other. “I could’ve stopped whenever I wanted. It’s my fault…” He hated how much Dick blamed himself for Wally’s death. It made him wonder if Dick had been thinking that way for the past seven years. It weighed down on his consciousness even more, now the guilt of losing Artemis and the pain of torturing Dick pressing down on him from all directions. Wally felt a few of his own tears slip down his face, some falling against Dick’s chest and others sliding along paths on his facial features before plopping down onto the sheets below them.
The boys cuddled close to each other for warmth, both ending up silently crying themselves to sleep in the other’s embrace. Wally fell into a light and fitful sleep quite a bit of time after Dick had passed out. He was too anxious and guilty to properly sleep. God, he needed a way to get this out.
“I would love to stay and get you further caught up with everything that’s happened, but I have a meeting that I can’t cancel.” Dick was pulling on his clothes as he and Wally sat in the kitchen, Wally crunching on some cereal as he watched and listened to Dick. He nodded, moving his gaze to his bowl and played with the cereal in the milk.
“…stay safe, okay?” Wally mumbled under his breath, but with the silence in the home, Dick could hear his words perfectly. Dick grinned, and he walked up to Wally to envelop the boy in a tight hug, burying his face into the red curls. He breathed in Wally’s smell, relaxing slightly as he nuzzled his cheek against the top of Wally’s head.
“We promised each other that we would never leave the other alone again. I won’t leave you.” Wally leaned into the taller boy’s embrace as he closed his eyes.
After a moment, Dick pulled back, smiling softly down at Wally. “I gotta go. I’ll be back, at the latest, for dinner. Make sure to take care of yourself and eat lunch; I don’t know if you ate anything when you were in wherever you were.” Dick ruffled Wally’s hair before grabbing his bag and ran out his apartment door. Wally’s gaze followed after Dick, and after hearing the door slam shut he sighed and got up to throw his cereal away. It had gotten soggy with how long it had sat. He then plopped back down into his seat at the kitchen table, sighing to himself as he buried his face into his folded arms that were crossed on the table. He was alone, and would be alone, for hours. He was stuck with only his thoughts, and his thoughts now weren’t happy and pleasant ones. Dark self-loathing thoughts swirled deep in the depths of his mind, and it all began to overwhelm him as he shrunk down on himself in his despair and guilt.
Suddenly, a voice Wally vaguely recognized called out.
“Big Bird! Didja get a new medkit that I could use?” Wally looked up, confusion on his face and slight tears in his eyes from his thoughts, right as two people came wandering into the kitchen in search of Dick. His green eyes widened as he was met with the sight of Roy, mechanical arm and all, practically carrying another man under his good arm. Roy practically dropped the man, and the man himself gasped loudly upon seeing Wally. Both males nearly screamed.
“WALLY?!!” They both launched themselves at Wally, who screeched and nearly fell out of his seat. Wally could barely breathe as he was being squeezed, and he squeaked slightly as the two surrounded him. Roy laughed, and the man he had recognized was hugging Wally while staring at him in awe.
“My God, Dick talked to me about you when I came back and was no longer killer, but fuck you’re different in person.” Wally squinted, and then he gasped.
“Jason?!”
Jason grinned, the really, really tall man nearly cradling Wally in his arms. “Guess I’m still as recognizable as I used to be.” He pretended to do a little hair flip, which made Wally giggle a little.
“Well, we came here to find Dick for a medkit, but we found something better instead,” Roy said, now sitting on the floor in front of Wally as Jason stood behind the speedster with his arms wrapped around him. “Where is Dick, by the way?”
“Oh, some meeting he wouldn’t tell me about,” Wally grumbled with a mock-annoyed look, but he couldn’t help but laugh and shove Jason’s face away as Jason was jokingly trying to smother Wally. Roy smirked as he watched Wally and Jason playing, rolling his eyes at the dorky behavior.
“I’ll be right back.” Roy got up and walked out of the kitchen, off on a search for the medkit. Wally leaned back and played with the white strands of Jason’s hair, Jason in turn laughing. “Big baby.”
“Tall child.”
“Speed demon.”
“Gun violence.”
Jason gasped, feigning hurt, before pushing Wally off of his chair and onto the floor. Wally grunted, sprawling out on the floor, and looked up at Jason with a scowl.
“Meanie.”
“I'm not mean. You’re just sensitive.”
Wally’s breath caught in his throat at that, and his heart squeezed with guilt and sadness, but he didn’t let it show. He didn’t want to prove that he was sensitive. He was about to say something when Roy came back, medkit in robotic hand, and placed his free hand on Jason’s shoulder.
“C’mon, Jay, we gotta go.” Roy then looked at Wally, giving him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry to leave you, but we have missions to do.” Wally shrugged and tried to look unbothered.
“I’ll be fine.”
Jason smirked, and he followed after Roy as they both left from where they had come into the apartment. Wally sighed, his mask of an expression falling. He was lying. He wouldn’t be fine. He didn’t want to be alone. Was he really that sensitive? His brain began to think faster than he could fully process, leaving him feeling overwhelmed and in need of an output. His gaze flicked toward the knife board that was near the refrigerator. His eyes narrowed, sucking in a sharp breath. Should he? He wasn’t sensitive. He could prove it. He would prove it…
Dick came home, hours later, only to find Wally on his couch. He was desperately trying to rebandage his legs while panicking, and the bandages weren't going on properly with how fast he was trying to bandage them.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Dick dropped his bags and rushed over, pressing his hands over the spots that were slightly bandaged and trying to help stem the bleeding, ignoring the blood that dripped into his hands. “I thought I told you that you had to stay here!”
Wally sobbed, trembling as he sat and kept trying to bandage himself up. “I-I didn’t go anywhere…”
“Then what did you-?!”Dick cut himself up, and his eyes widened as he looked up at Wally’s face from where he was sitting on the floor. His blue eyes began pooling up with tears once the realization hit him. “Wally…”
“I didn’t realize the knife wasn’t serrated,” Wally choked out, his sobs catching in his throat as he panicked. “I didn't want this. I don’t want to die for real.”
Without further hesitation, Dick scooped Wally up into his arms, bolting out of his apartment and out to his car. “I’m getting you to the hospital! I’m not losing you again!” He strapped Wally’s pale and bleeding form into the front seat, and he got into the driver’s seat himself. He then began speeding off, trying not to go too much over the speed limit but was definitely crossing some boundaries in how fast he could go. The pair reached the hospital only a few minutes later, Dick scooping Wally back into his arms again and rushed to the emergency room. They checked Wally in, took him from Dick’s arms, and they wheeled him off into a different room. Dick was forced to sit in the waiting room, the man sitting impatiently in fear for his friend.
God, Wally, be okay… Dick had lost track of time, but some time later, a doctor came back with Wally, with Wally curling up into Dick’s lap as the doctor spoke quietly with Dick. They got to go home, and Dick made the ultimate decision to just carry Wally around the whole time. Wally didn’t speak, just staying curled against Dick in silence.
They didn’t even eat dinner. Both were too stressed with everything that had happened for food.
Dick held Wally against him as they lay in bed again, Wally having changed out of his blood-stained clothing. The younger male squeezed Wally, face pressed into the red hair as he took shaky breaths. He kept muttering under his breath, words of comfort and reassurance that Wally was okay.
He wasn’t dead.
He wasn’t losing Wally.
Wally felt guilty for scaring Dick, and Dick could tell, because he spoke to Wally instead of himself this time. “
You’re okay. Everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes,” Dick cooed, running his fingers through the back of Wally’s hair as Wally snuggled closer to him. He then sighed. “I'm bringing you to Dinah, though. In the morning.”
“But-” Wally started, but was cut off.
“No. It’s not just because of this you’re talking to her. It’s about everything.” Dick then grinned, tilting Wally’s head up to look into Wally’s eyes as he spoke. “We could get ice cream afterward.”
Wally gasped, acting dramatically as he tried to hide his small giggles, and was thankful for the topic change. “Ice cream? The frozen delicacy? My word!” Dick laughed and hugged Wally tight. Wally could feel the rumbles of Dick’s laughter through Dick’s chest.
“Go to sleep, Wally. I’ll be here.” And Wally did just that, falling asleep with a smile at the prospect of the childish prospect of ice cream. Being a child never hurts anybody though, right?
“One mint chocolate chip, and one vanilla chocolate swirl, please.” Dick tried not to break out laughing as he ordered, watching Wally bounce on the balls of his feet with his hands holding the rim of the serving counter, looking just like a little kid. He took the two cones as they were handed to him and handed Wally the vanilla and chocolate one.
They began a walk, their hands brushing as they strode along the tree-shaded path, enjoying the other’s company and their ice cream.
“You know, I’m proud of you for talking to Dinah,” Dick said, glancing at Wally as they walked. Wally looked up and smiled.
“Really?”
“Of course. I mean, I know Dinah’s pretty persuasive, but I don’t know if I could’ve talked to her.”
“Oh, I doubt that. You’re perfect,” Wally blurted, and then quickly shoved half of his cone into his mouth to shut himself up. Dick laughed softly, his hand brushing against Wally’s again as they walked along, a few leaves falling from the trees above and blowing around them.
“Eh, I wouldn’t call myself perfect. I mean, look, I just spent money for us to get ice cream,” he joked, playfully shoving Wally’s shoulder. Wally scoffed and shoved Dick back.
They both started play-fighting as they walked, ice cream finished, until they heard a voice behind them.
“Hey, Dick! Who’s your new friend?”
Wally paled. He knew that voice. He turned around to face the person, and they gasped loudly, a hand going up to their chest as their eyes widened.
“Wally…?”
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SHE'S FINALLY DONE
Ok, so for those of you who don't know, i've been talking about redesigning miraculous ladybug for like. two years now? But i've finally settled on designs that I actually like, so here's Marinette!
Design notes and other stuff below!:
So, before anything else, I wanted to go a slightly different direction with her design: I genuinely like the canon civilian outfit, but it almost feels...professional? I get that she's taking commissions and stuff, but like. I don't think that tells us a lot about Marinette as a person.
I gave her a pair of overalls and sneakers, with a big, poofy sweater, cuz I thought it would look fun
My idea for both her and Adrien's design is that in whatever form they're in, they're sharing the same color palette mostly, hence the speckles of green in her design
This is also why there's minimal white in her design: I'm designating white as the Agreste color
I imagine this version of Marinette as being a kind of shy person, but one who's very passionate about things she believes in. The kind of person who, in the wrong circumstances, comes off as a bit of an ass.
U remember in the sereis when, for the first episode, Marinette thought Adrien was as bad as Chloe? I actually wanted to extend that into a half-a-season arc
Speaking of color, I don't like how the series color-codes (or just forgets to color-code) it's characters: logically, Marinette's main color should be red, with hints of black in her design, but instead its...pink?
Like, Rose is already pink, why is Marinette pink, too? just for the magical girl thing of pink=main character?
And y'all, don't even get me started on the others. Alya's main color is orange because fox, Adrien has black in his design, with hints of green (and also purple and orange? why?) and nino...
Like, the rest of the class is color-coded to their miraculous for the most part, why is it JUST the main 4 characters?
(ok, Sabrina ALSO technically isn't color coded correctly...but still)
So, I have marinette in a rainbow sweater for a big reason: In this redesign/rewrite, Marinette doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, so her main "color" (until a turning point) is tie-dye/gradient
I also tweaked her design a bit in other ways
Her earrings have tassels because 1. Tikki goes into the tassel and it swings around to enter the actual earring, and 2. I thought it looked cool.
Flats here:
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